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Friday, August 22, 2014

Are You Committing Spiritual Adultery?

Are You Committing Spiritual Adultery?

Proverbs 5:3-5

“For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.”

Proverbs 23:27-28

“For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit. She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.”

Prostitution

So often, prostitution is referred to as the "oldest profession” in the world. It has always been a common way for women to make money, even in Bible times. The Bible teaches that prostitution is immoral, a deep pit, a narrow well; and the prostitute lurks as a robber to lure the hearts of men. To fall into her trap, should be as frightening as falling into a deep pit or well where there is no escape.

God forbids such involvement with a prostitute because He knows this attachment is harmful to both men and women. Satan’s work of seduction begins with it words of deceptive flattery. The lips of honey should be meant for one’s true love in marriage and not for anything outside of this sacred bond. The tasting of the adulterous women’s lips is said to be, “bitter as wormwood” and “as sharp as a two-edged sword,” symbols of suffering and death.

Prostitution not only destroys marriages, families, and lives, but it destroys a persons physical body and leads to spiritual death. We are to keep our bodies pure to be used as tools for His service and glory. Romans 6:13 says, “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” The body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body (I Corinthians 6:13b).

Although prostitution is sinful, prostitutes are not beyond God's loving forgiveness. The Bible records His use of a prostitute named Rahab to further His sovereign plan. Because of her obedience, she and her family were saved and blessed (Joshua 2:1; 6:17-25). Jesus forgave and cleansed a women from her sin and she found an opportunity to serve Christ while He was visiting in the home of a Pharisee. This woman brought a bottle of expensive perfume to Jesus and in repentance, wept while she poured perfume on His feet and wiped it with her hair. The Pharisees criticized Jesus for allowing the "immoral" woman to show such an act of love towards Him. Jesus rebuked them in saying, “...Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little” (Luke 7:47).

Jesus Christ said in Matthew 21:31-32, “Verily I say unto you, That the publicans (tax collectors) and the harlots (prostitutes) go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him” (even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him). It was easier for tax collectors and prostitutes to find true salvation than it was for the chief priests and other self-righteous leaders to believe that Jesus was the only way of salvation.

The book of Hosea teaches us that Hosea was asked by God to take a “wife of whoredoms,” a picture of Israel (also called Ephraim) in spiritual adultery. Gomer was a prostitute, a woman unfaithful to her husband, Hosea, and to her children. The theme of the book shows God’s loyal love for His covenant people, Israel, in spite of their idolatry. Though Israel will have great consequences because of the sin of idolatry, God will love, forgive and restore the nation of Israel in the end. God tolerates no rival whether it be a nation or an individual, but pledges to expose wickedness illustrating His unquenchable love for Israel, His beloved people, and for us.

Thought: Being in spiritual adultery is dangerous and deadly just as being a prostitute, or being with a prostitute is hazardous and extremely risky. Spiritual adultery is unfaithfulness to God and having an excessive fondness for the things of the world. James 4:4 says,“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship (a strong emotional attachment) of the world is enmity (hostility, opposition, resistance) with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” The one who is an enemy of God is seen throughout Scripture as an unbeliever, one who has a deep and intimate longing for the things of the world and not for God.

The Bible says if we set our mind on the flesh it is death, but if we set our mind on the Spirit it is life and peace. The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile and in opposition towards God and therefore is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be yielded to Christ (Romans 8:5-7). If you are a true believer, allow Christ to transform you by the renewing of your mind rather than you conforming to this world (Romans 12:2). The love of the world is primarily an attitude of the heart. To avoid spiritual adultery, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth”(Colossians 3:2).